#hi fandom

For those less familiar with the sanders sides fandom: I will be referring to him as his own character, and not him as the concept of logic. This is because he is Thomas' personal idea of logic. I also don't think some of the decisions he makes are completely logical, ie. "You shouldn't date if dating is hard and scary", so much as they are precautionary. I think it's safe to say they've all grown over the last ~10 years into their own people, and they don't discretely fit the labels "Creativity" "Deciet" "Logic" etc. as much anymore. Yes those are their core functions, but they experience and be capable of sharing far more than that. Even as defined parts of thomas, they are complex and multidimensional. Logan is his own guy.

For those more familiar with the sanders sides fandom: THIS IS AN APPRECIATION POST! THAT I DIDN'T SPEND SUPER LONG ON! I've lowkey been kind of scared to share my opinions. This place feels like such a tight knit friend group. Everyone already kind of has their dynamics set in stone, and I feel like I have to adhear to a set of unspoken rules about what character feels how about who. Just wanted to say that this is all illogical and not that serious, so if I say something that wildly mischaracterizes him, then I'm sorry.

NOW I CAN TALK ABOUT WHY I LIKE HIM!!

1. We are similar, believe it or not. Look. okay I know I'm not the most logical person. But you have to understand, he is a pretty spot on example of how my brain works. Abstract things, like romantic attraction, people's the seemingly innate need for attention, some societal rules, often make zero sense to me. but By God can I catagorize them. I can name and label like it's nobody's business. It's so important to me that he understands this too, he's self aware. He doesn't get everything, but sees that this stuff is important to his friends, and he sometimes backs out of discussions when he feels like doesn't have anything productive to add. He's also a nerd about things that I'm a nerd about!! Chemistry and psychology!! Stress management!! I absolutely LOVE that he's a smart character whose focus does not revolve around math. Biggest science enjoyer in the world here, math is the devil. HE'S ALSO A DOCTOR WHO FAN!!! WHO DOESN'T CONSTANTLY CRITICIZE THE SHOW FOR IT'S INCONSISTENCIES!! yes it's bad at times, this has been said a million times before. it also has it's moments. I like that he gets that. He also: loves word association games, And lastly, crofters. I too, eat jam straight out of the jar. fuckin incredible.

2. He fascinates me!! He's freakin adorable, to start. Like exclusively in terms of his personality and mannerisms. I love him. He's got a very satisfying way of speaking, and hypothesizing, and coming to conclusions. I think it's the whole teacher thing. He verbally adds newly discussed variables to his mental model in a way that is very easy to follow. (unlike me, and my fuckass run on sentences.) A lot of things other people do and say are complicated and have a billion motivations that have nothing to do with the situation at hand, and he's good at reminding the others of that. And I love the quoting of psychological studies. Always. That's my favorite part of sanders sides. Yes it's funny, yes it's wonderfully philosophical, but do you want to experience real joy? watch the episodes, and then READ ABOUT THE EXPERIMENTS AND STUDIES HE TALKS ABOUT. Oh man, the yerkes doddson curve changed my life. My favorite part of Logan however, is that HE MAKES MISTAKES. LIKE A PERSON WOULD. (yes they all do, but it's especially important to me that the "smart one" does. he's often responsible for the exposition, and many shows have the habit of having the "explainer" character who is never wrong, because their purpose is to give the watcher context as to what is happening.) And I'm not talking about "infinitessimal", He makes big misjudgements about situations, and he realises and learns from them. I'm really getting tired of characters who are always right because they only rely on facts and logic. Extrapolate! Listen! It's just as important of a skill. He also tries his best to consider the others feelings, which is more than I can say for some of them. He's not completely emotionless, he's just under the assumption that emotions always add another layer of complexity to a situation, so it's sometimes better to temporarily put them aside to focus on the task at hand. Pretending like he doesn't experience emotions is a coping mechanism. Not a super healthy one, but a coping mechanism nonetheless.

3. Orange??? Theres something sinister going on with him, whether he knows it or not. I love that. I know lots of people have been simmering with varying opinions and ideas for 6ish years now. As a newcomer, I personally have no original opinions on this. It's for sure something to do with ego (in a way that is explicitly different to pride, maybe like external validation), as it's tied to Logan and seems to make an appearence when he feels as though he is being ignored or undervalued. Whatever it is, I can't wait for the rage to consume him. He deserves it. They're all so prone to hiding and bottling their emotions when things get difficult, then wonder why the "dark sides" play such a major role in thomas's decision making. Like gee, I sure do wonder why the concept of revealing to everyone exactly who you are, not having to hide your feelings, being unabashedly honest, (to the point of making other people uncomfortable, in Remus' case) is so tempting. hm. (EDIT, THIS POST RIGHT HERE IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. TY PARKER.) Being disregarded is not a fun feeling. Anger is an emotion like any other, and I hope he gets to express that in a healthy way soon.

4. His relationships with the others!! I'm really not gonna focus on this much, as this is my rant and there are just a lot of conflicting opinions and ideas in this space. However. It's impossible for me to only talk about one of the sides, as they all fit so nicely into the mechanism. He's a very neccessary part of their team, as the others are very... black and white. It's funny to me that the logical, straight forward one can see in more shades of grey than Creativity. He understands that the dark sides are important, like Remus is sign of something deeper happening. That he too, has his purpose. They can't get rid of him, just like they couldn't get rid of Virgil or Janus. They're all parts of Thomas. They all, in one way or another, want what they think is best for Thomas. I love Logan's interactions with everyone oh my goodness. Virgil and Logan's friendship is so important to me.

Other notes (defending his honor):

1. There has been a post circulating that talks about how he hasn't changed or grown as much as the others, but I think he has! He's more accepting now. If you watch the earlier videos: He's more irritable and overtly arrogant. While he still exhibits those qualities on occasion, they've all definitely grown closer. Also if we're talking about cohesive character arcs, I fear Roman hasn't hit that development either? This is an opinion for another post, but (correct me if I'm wrong) Roman's change has really only been about really disliking a dark side then getting to know them and seeing their value. They've all become more fleshed out as the series has gone on, but only a few of them have really gotten a clear pipeline of: found flaws within themself -> changed for the better (with support from the others).

2. There has also been another post ive seen that says Thomas' idea of logic is rooted in homophobia and toxic masculinity, which i fundamentally disagree with. Yes, I think a lot of society is built on those philosophies, but that having a character who is content with conforming to society does not necessarily mean he agrees with how it is. Terms I agree with: He gets upset at Patton for being too silly sometimes. He doesn't appreciate when Roman has unattainable dreams. But Both of these stem from his misconception of emotions always being bad, and not realizing that the purpose of living is to find joy for yourself and bring joy to others. Enjoying the stability of a desk job is not the same as agreeing with the state of the world right now. His issues mainly come from a fear of chaos, of being out of control, not being taken seriously. These things do not mean the outright rejection of femininity. He likes stability, and that stability unfortunately does often come at the cost of fitting in.

All this to say: Logan's a wonderfully written character, and I'm excited to see the direction in which Thomas takes him (orange or otherwise).

So my husband has decided that the "clone" line was too good to be a throw away joke for Dr. Robotic.